Between November and December 2025, the government of Eritrea released dozens of Christians who had been arbitrarily detained for belonging to unregistered churches. Open Doors and other organizations received the news with caution: the releases came with a devastating condition, as the believers were forced to sign a document renouncing their right to worship. In addition, none of the seven prominent church leaders on whose behalf international organizations had been advocating were among those released.
Eritrea is one of the most closed countries in the world for independent religious practice. Only four groups are recognized by the State: the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, and Sunni Islam. All others, including Baptists, Pentecostals, evangelicals, and members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, are treated as illegal. Believers from these churches can be imprisoned without formal charges, held in metal shipping containers out in the open, subjected to extreme temperatures, and tortured, according to Human Rights Watch reports from 2026.
The USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom) highlighted in 2026 that prominent pastors remain imprisoned for more than two decades without trial or access to lawyers. In April 2026, the ICC reported that the United States was considering easing sanctions against Eritrea despite the severe and ongoing religious persecution, a decision that Christian organizations strongly criticized, arguing that international pressure is one of the few instruments available to protect Christians in the country.
Pray for the Eritrean Christians released under these conditions, that the Lord would strengthen them to remain faithful despite the document signed under coercion, and that the global Church would intercede for their situation. Intercede for the leaders imprisoned for decades, Haile Nayzgi, Petros Sorsa, and others, that they would be released in 2026. Ask God to move governments and international organizations to keep pressure on Eritrea in favor of religious freedom, and that the Eritrean Church, even while suffering, would be strengthened in faith and in love for its Lord.
